Portrait of a City - Detroit (1961)

[Music] here is a city of contrast spread out on one of the busiest world yet its reputation is built on the with where the flag three nations have flown yet it looks only to the Future and the old always gives way to the this is the city of Detroit in the state of [Music] Michigan perhaps fate had its eye on this place from the very beginning on a Ledge high up against the face of the Old City Hall in Detroit stands a man of stone he is looking endlessly out over a square that bears his name Cadillac sometimes just after Dawn it is quiet in Cadillac Square and you can hear the beating of the pigeon's Wings it must remind the stone man of how it was when he landed on this River Shore back in 17001 no boat whistle sounded then there were no steel mules no dock and factories only a silent Wilderness and the river flowing Between the Lakes in the library on Woodward Avenue today there is a map an idea of how it looked that year on the morning of July 24th there was a big plan back of this Landing the French wanted Furs and they wanted to get in behind the English on the wild continent down from the north they sent antoan deot Cadillac and 100 men to the PL duah the place of the straet they built a stockade on the straight called it Fort pona train you can see a model of it in Old Fort Wayne on the River today before long people were calling this little settlement Detroit by the year 1800 men arrived who left a lasting impression on the community one was a Reverend Richard Pard who paddled his canoe across the River from Canada to hold Episcopal church services in Detroit he met with his Frontier congregation in the old Indian Council house the only available place for public assembly today on this exact location stands old Mariners Church the oldest Protestant church building in Detroit it serves as a focus for many Civic and interdenominational services in the heart of Detroit's New City cic [Music] Center another of those early Pioneers was a man whose portrait in Gray Granite looks out over Jefferson Avenue from his park by the river he knew so well father Gabrielle rishard and this statue is not his only Monument the Detroit News the Detroit Free Press are something to remember him by because he brought the first printing press to the Michigan Wilderness he helped save Detroit when it was all but burned off the map though the city has a modern fire department now in his day there was none when the town burned to the ground and the settlers wanted to leave he Tau them into staying and rebuilding From the Ashes he reminded them that the city was not destroyed how could it be the city was in their hearts that fiery tragedy did some good though it spurred the lumber industry because Detroit had to have new houses one of Detroit's streets is named Cass Avenue a thoroughfare is an appropriate Monument to General Lewis Cass the territorial governor in the early early years who was responsible for the first network of Roads through the Michigan [Music] Wilderness there was another man who made a contribution in those early years this was Dr Douglas hoton as state geologist he showed the way for the copper Miners and iron miners the lake boats that whistle in the river carrying raw materials of civilization are extensions of his dream as the years went by the people of Detroit put their skills to good use on the earth Treasures hoton had found for [Music] them because he was a great mayor and a humanitarian they have a bronze statue of Hazen s pingry in Grand circus Park but he was first a successful shoe manufacturer shoes were an important product of Detroit if pingry could turn his head to the left he could look at the biggest shoe store in the world strange that this city whose product has taken every man off his feet and put him on Wheels should boast an establishment with 10 floors devoted to nothing but Footwear through the 19th century detroiters made many products bicycles carriages railroad cars and Marine Engines against the coming of the great day then in the 1890s Horseless Carriage talk began to circulate around the country and detroiters paid no more attention than most people but there were men in Detroit who were tinkering with these self-propelled Contraptions and the first Detroit built car had been driven in the streets of the city but not many people knew what was going on down on baggley Avenue right where the Michigan Theater now stands early one morning a man named Henry Ford who had been building a Horseless Carriage in a shed back of his home wheeled it out into the alley and started it Up The Echoes of that two-cylinder motor have never died and they never will since in many places but the industry caught on and grew in the town that started as a fur Depot with canoes parked at its door the knoow was here and the waterways for the vast loads of raw materials blacksmiths Marine engine and carriage Builders easily switched over to car building then when they figured out a system of fabricating the parts and putting cars together on a moving conveyor it set the pattern for mass production the mass production of all all kinds of wonderful products it fired the starting gun for today and the greater days that lie ahead now on every Highway in the land goes the work of the people of [Music] Detroit what a change has come over the strait since cadillaccts men chopped Stockade pilings in the startled Wilderness those many years ago the river is now an international boundary and one of the world's busiest waterways the opposite Shore south from Detroit is Canada Windsor Ontario looks across the water and the people of the two cities go back and forth across the Ambassador Bridge a suspension span that connects two Nations or by way of the only International tunnel of its kind Detroit has plenty of visitors because there is a lot to see most of all they will see a city on the move the face of Detroit is changing every day the old worn out structures are torn down to make way for beauty like the Veterans Memorial Building on Detroit's Waterfront while the road Builders are busy cutting through and leveling sections that have served out their time opening new expressways and arteries for traffic that is always on the Move in Detroit but most cars ride on their first trip through Detroit streets car building depends on literally thousands of suppliers of parts and materials spread like a network throughout the country all springing from that joke of the 1890s the old Horseless Carriage whatever happened to that derisive taunt get a [Music] horse well almost any day down by the river you can still see horses at work in Detroit of course not all detroiters are building cars some turn out substances for for life and health in the Laboratories of the world's largest manufacturer of pharmaceuticals and biological products here is where they discovered adrenaline and a host of other things that are names on bottles and the difference between life and death for people all around the earth they didn't know it perhaps but all these years detroiters were building something else the technique of mass production which became a weapon to defend human Freedom when the time came to produce for the defense of America the plants and the skills were ready Detroit became the arsenal of [Music] democracy yes antoan deot Cadillac a lot of changes have taken place for Humanity since your time of course Detroit still speaks a little French on her street signs lioi crash it charoy back in the early 1800s he called one street William and gave his John R to another then there is Grand Boulevard which starts at the river and Loops all around the central part of town to come back to the river again and there are places that seem like old landmarks now miss KAC m Sonic Temple for instance with its famed Auditorium seating [Music] 5,000 and there are some things that would seem a miracle to you this jet airliner and the Detroit Metropolitan Airport [Music] and you would be amazed how well your name is known the 47 stories of the bcot building would overw [Music] you and not in the halls of fen blow would you have seen anything to equal the Fisher Building it is one of the most elaborate Office Buildings in the world here is the Pioneer department store that is now one of the largest in the country where you could get anything from The Furs you came to these Shores for in the first place to 10,000 other items you never heard of far out in the suburbs you would find branches of this store with many other shops clustered about in Two Fine shopping centers each located in the middle of gigantic parking lots this is Northland with space to park exactly 99,900 184 [Music] cars here in a garden setting 110 stores and services spread out among colorful promenades with beautiful flowers and unusual [Music] fountains you would find fascinating new buildings all over the city towers of Steel and glass and aluminum and there are motels dotted all [Music] around many with their own swimming pools there's always plenty to see on the river sometimes it seems as if all the people who own cars also own boats [Music] and out in nearby Dearborn where the rouge river runs into the Detroit River you can see the largest automobile plant in the world the gateway to the Rouge Plant is the Ford rotunda a vast exhibit hall filled with Automotive displays there's more to Detroit than industry though here for instance is the Detroit Institute of Art with a fine art collection brought together for the benefit of all the people you see detroiters appreciate those things that enriched the mind and the [Music] spirit to the Northwest in Suburban Bloomfield Hills is a cultural center known as Cranbrook the famous fountains are the work of the modern sculptor Carl Millis [Music] equally well known for its art and architecture is Christ Church Cranbrook with its outstanding examples of stained glass and carving then to remind us of our past as a nation Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn if you could make only one pilgrimage to American shrines this institution would reward you with the greatest concentration of our National [Music] Heritage transported to Greenfield Village from New Jersey is the Meno Park laboratory where Edison lit the first electric light as well as McGuffy Schoolhouse and the black walnut Courthouse where Lincoln practiced law and all the other historic structures that have been saved for posterity Detroit is proud of its United Foundation combining all fundraising appeals into one great torch drive for charity and meeting one of the highest quotas in the [Music] country then there are institutions like this one of many fine hospitals in the metropolitan [Music] area the needs of the Mind are attended to by a great City school system system and Detroit is noted for its fine colleges and universities like the famous University of Detroit and Wayne State University which has grown from Modest Beginnings in an old high school building to a beautiful campus spreading out from the Art Institute and the library in the very Heart of the City the work of many of America's creative Architects can be seen in the beauty of this University so you see Metropolitan Detroit is more than an important industry thousands upon thousands of the cars that originated here come rolling back every year bearing Americans who are visiting one of the greatest sightseeing sections of the [Music] country a lot of the woods lakes and streams of Michigan are as unspoiled as they were when the void Treasures came over the waters in their canoes this is the gateway to Trout bass musky and Northern Pike Country this is also the gateway to Great hunting country and the winter sports area of Northern Michigan who has a more varied choice of sports than detroiters first and foremost the Detroit Tigers look pretty close to the best stadium in the country this is also the home of a colorful professional football team the Detroit [Music] [Applause] Lions there's Olympia on Grand River home of the Detroit Red Wings and the Heart of Major League Hockey it will seat 16,000 fans for boxing or a convention and it is the home of the professional basketball team the Detroit Pistons on the other hand if your idea of outdoor recreation is something like this drifting in a canoe or spreading a picnic lunch under the trees or wandering through a Dreamland of colorful flowers delile that Green Haven in the river is the place for [Music] you you can drive over the bridge and feel your tensions [Music] relax Detroit is dynamic against the sky but a world away across the water if you want even more Elbow Room there are 12200 Rolling Acres in River Rouge park where you can lie under a tree and listen to the song of the Earth or go into action and work off steam the season needn't matter because in Winter there's a 6 acre skating rink and a whole row of 700t tobogan slides there is speedboat racing on the Detroit River where the harmsworth trophy has been contested for and won so many many times an annual event is the international Tugboat race over a six mile course in the river if you like graceful sport there is sailboating throughout the summer season out near Royal Oak is Detroit's Municipal Zoo one of the finest zoos in the country where the animals and people are separated not by bars but by Deep moats and low walls right under the city 1100 ft below the ground there wind the Mong corridors of a gigantic salt mine up along Lakes Shore Drive in Gross Point you will see some of the statest mansions in [Music] America and out in the sub BS are mile after mile of new homes with more being built every day for Detroit is a city on the Move growing reaching out yet recognizing its need for spiritual growth as [Music] well members of every Faith find a home here and nowhere is the me of mission activity felt more keenly than in the heart of the city with its Ever Changing pattern of population here you can feel the faith of this city at [Music] work the new Civic Center is a tangible expression of Detroit's dreams for tomorrow here on 75 Acres at the very edge of the Detroit River a tangle of Ed and rundown buildings was cleared to make way for a new concept of [Music] developments largest of the new buildings is Cobo Hall named for the mayor of Detroit whose Vision prepared the way for all these gleaming buildings Kobo Hall has 51 Acres of floor space available for conventions exhibits and [Music] displays the convention arena in Kobo Hall will seat 14 ,000 Detroit's principal product is not forgotten either there is parking for over 3,000 cars in the various garages and parking lots at the Civic Center including this unique parking lot on the roof of Kobo Hall itself nearby is the new Henry and edel Ford Auditorium home of the fame Detroit Symphony Orchestra across Jefferson Avenue and towering over the Civic Center is the new city county building where more than 40 executive legislative and judicial departments have conveniently been brought together in one 20 story building here at the entrance to the building is the Spirit of Detroit this massive bronze figure holds symbols of God and of the family the foundation a of all Hope and New Life for Detroit has always moved forward on faith building and rebuilding shaping its own destiny with the imagination and abilities of its people this is the way it is with the city of Detroit the city that changed the transportation of man around the world the city that grew up on the straight the old gives way to the new yet all that is good is cherished and contributes to the dream of the future for Detroit the city of contrasts looks toward tomorrow confident that its great goals will be gained through the vision cooperation and energy of all its people a